TENNIS:WORLD NUMBER one Roger Federer got back into his old routine with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of France's Gael Monfils to reach the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals yesterday. He now plays Argentine sixth seed David Nalbandian.
The Swiss top seed, who was two points from an embarrassing defeat against Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Wednesday, sealed a straightforward victory in 71 minutes.
Federer, who won his first title of season at the Estoril Open last week, is still on course for a third consecutive Monte Carlo final against Spain's Rafael Nadal, a 6-4 6-1 winner against compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Third seed Novak Djokovic ended Andy Murray's hopes with a 6-0 6-4 thrashing of the Briton and will play Sam Querrey after the American upset French seventh seed Richard Gasquet 2-6 6-4 6-3.
Nadal, the defending champion, withstood Ferrero's early fightback to set up another all Spanish meeting with David Ferrer.
Fifth seed Ferrer, who has been eliminated at the quarter-final stage on his last three appearances in the principality, swept aside Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-0 in the third round in 67 minutes.
The results mean that all top six seeds will be in the quarter-finals.
Nadal and Ferrero, with four French Open titles and five Monte Carlo crowns between them, treated the fans to top-notch tennis in the first set before the 13th seed ran out of steam.
Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat German 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6 7-5 6-2 and next meets compatriot Igor Andreev, who wasted six match points before beating Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5 4-6 6-4.
